Clinton's tour of duty Senator goes visiting in territory Bush avoided
Baghdad
Sunday, 30 November 2003
A UNITED States soldier was killed in a mortar attack on a base in northern Iraq, as Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton visited US troops in Baghdad on the heels of a surprise visit by President George W. Bush.
Mrs Clinton, the former US first lady, visited troops and top US officials on Friday, just one day after Mr Bush's stealth visit.
Unlike the US President, who never left the main military camp at Baghdad airport during his 2-hour stay, Mrs Clinton left the heavily fortified complex around the palace to visit troops.
She also met Iraqi officials, including the sole female member of the US-installed interim Cabinet.
"It's no longer sufficient for our military to win battles, but they have to win the hearts and minds. It's a very big challenge," said Mrs Clinton, who earlier in the week spent Thanksgiving with US troops in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile at Mr Bush's ranch in Texas, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice denied that the President's blitz trip was a political stunt that inadvertently highlighted the chaos still blighting Iraq.
"Obviously, Iraq is still a dangerous place, and that's no secret to anyone," Ms Rice said.
Charges that the secrecy and security blanketing his stop at Baghdad airport showed that Iraq had made little progress towards stability since the US-led March invasion were "just not true", she said.
Some critics, including the presidential campaign of retired general Wesley Clark, said the brevity and secrecy of the visit actually showed how little the US had accomplished in Iraq since taking control in April. "The trip highlights how insecure Iraq is and shows how we need to get our allies in to get the American face off the occupation," Clark spokesman Jamal Simmons said. In Iraq, the latest coalition casualty came when a US soldier from the 101st Airborne Division was killed when four mortar shells were fired at the division's base in the northern city of Mosul, a US army spokesman said.
Yesterday, the US-led coalition in Iraq denied a report that American troops had killed two young Iraqi sisters 60km north of Baghdad. "US forces had nothing to do with the death of either of the young women. Both incidents appear to be murder," a coalition spokesman said. - AFP
canberra.yourguide.com.au |
